1. The properties which iron possesses in its various forms, render it
the most useful of all the metals. The toughness of _malleable iron_
renders it applicable to purposes, where great strength is required,
while its difficult fusibility, and property of softening by heat, so
as to admit of forging and welding, cause it to be easily wrought.
2. Cast iron, from its cheapness, and from the facility with which its
form may be changed, is made the material of numerous structures.
_Steel_, which is the most important compound of iron, exceeds all
other metals in hardness and tenacity; and hence it is particularly
adapted to the fabrication of cutting instruments.
3. Iron was discovered, and applied to the purposes of the arts, at a
very early period. Tubal-Cain, who was the seventh generation from
Adam, "was an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron." Noah
must have used much of this metal in the construction of the ark, and,
of course, he must have transmitted a knowledge of it to his
posterity.
4. Nevertheless, the mode of separating it from the various substances
with which it is usually combined, was but imperfectly understood by
the ancients; and their use of it was, most likely, confined chiefly
to the limited quantity found in a state nearly pure. Gold, silver,
copper, and tin, are more easily reduced to a state in which they are
available in the arts. They were, therefore, often used in ancient
times, for purposes to which iron would have been more applicable.
This was the case especially with copper and tin.
5. Fifteen distinct kinds of iron ore, have been discovered by
mineralogists; but of these, not more than four have been employed in
making iron. There are, however, several varieties of the latter kind,
all of which are classed by the smelters of iron under the general
denomination of _bog_ and _mountain_ or _hard_ ores.
6. The former has much of the appearance of red, brown, or yellowish
earth, and is found in beds from one to six feet thick, and in size
from one fourth of a rood to twenty acres. The mountain, or hard ore,
to a superficial observer, differs but little in its appearance from
common rocks or stones. It is found in regular strata in hills and
mountains, or in detached masses of various sizes, and in hilly land
from two to eight feet below the surface.
7. The bog-ore is supposed to be a deposite from water which has
passed over the hard ore. This is evidently the case in hilly
countries, where both kinds occur. Some _iron-masters_ use the bog;
some, the hard; and others, both kinds together. In this particular,
they are governed by the ore, or ores, which may exist in their
vicinity.
8. The apparatus in which the ore is smelted, is called a
_blast-furnace_, which is a large pyramidal stack, built of hewn stone
or brick, from twenty to sixty feet in height, with a cavity of a
proportionate size. In shape, this cavity is near that of an egg, with
the largest end at the bottom. It is lined with fire-brick or stone,
capable of resisting an intense heat.
9. Below this cavity is placed the _hearth_, which is composed of four
or five large coarse sandstones, split out of a solid rock, and
chiselled so as to suit each other exactly. These form a cavity for
the reception of the iron and dross, when melted above. The hearth
requires to be removed at the end of every _blast_, which is usually
continued from six to ten months in succession, unless accidentally
interrupted.
10. The preparation for a blast, consists principally in providing
charcoal and ore. The wood for the former is cut in the winter and
spring, and charred and brought to the furnace during the spring,
summer, and autumn. What is not used during the time of hauling, is
stocked in coal-houses, provided for the purpose.
11. The wood is charred in the following manner. It is first piled in
heaps of a spherical form, and covered with leaves and dirt. The fire
is applied to the wood, at the top, and when it has been sufficiently
ignited, the pit is covered in; but, to support combustion, several
air-holes are left near the ground. The _colliers_ are obliged to
watch the pit night and day, lest, by the caving in of the dirt, too
much air be admitted, and the wood be thereby consumed to ashes.
12. When the wood has been reduced to charcoal, the fire is partially
extinguished by closing the air-holes. The coals are _drawn_ from the
pit with an iron-toothed rake, and, while this is performed, the dust
mingles with them, and smothers the fire which may yet remain. Wood is
also charred in kilns made of brick.
13. The hard ore is dug by _miners_, or, as they are commonly
denominated, _ore-diggers_. In the prosecution of their labor, they
sometimes follow a vein into a hill or mountain. When the ore is found
in strata or lumps near the surface, they dig down to it. This kind of
ore commonly contains sulphur and arsenic, and to free it from those
substances, and to render it less compact, it is roasted in kilns,
with refuse charcoal, which is too fine to be used for any other
purpose. It is then broken to a suitable fineness with a hammer, or in
a crushing mill. The bog-ore seldom needs any reduction.
14. Every preparation having been made, the furnace is gradually
heated with charcoal, and by degrees filled to the top, when a small
quantity of the ore is thrown on, and the blast is applied at the
bottom near the hearth. The blast is supplied by means of one or two
cylindrical bellows, the piston of which is moved by steam or water
power.
15. The coal is measured in baskets, holding about one bushel and a
half, and the ore, in boxes holding about one peck. Six baskets of
coal, and as many boxes of ore as the furnace can carry, is called a
_half charge_, which is renewed as it may be necessary to keep the
furnace full. With every charge is also thrown in one box of
limestone.
16. The limestone is used as a flux, to aid in the fusion of the ore,
and to separate its earthy portions from the iron. The iron sinks by
its specific gravity, to the bottom of the hearth, and the earthy
portions, now converted into glass by the action of the limestone and
heat, also sink, and float upon the liquid iron. This scum, or, as it
is usually called, scoria, slag, or cinder, is occasionally removed by
instruments made for the purpose.
17. When the hearth has become full of iron, the metal is let out, at
one corner of it, into a bed of sand, called a _pig-bed_, which is
from twenty to thirty feet in length, and five or six in width. One
concave channel, called _the sow_, extends the whole length of the
bed, from which forty or fifty smaller ones, called _pig-moulds_,
extend at right angles. The metal, when cast in these moulds, is
called _pig-iron_, and the masses of iron, _pigs_.
18. _Pig-iron_, or, as it is sometimes called, _crude iron_, being
saturated with carbon and oxygen, and containing also a portion of
scoria, is too brittle for any other purpose than castings. Many of
these, such as stoves, grates, mill-irons, plough-irons, and kitchen
utensils, are commonly manufactured at blast furnaces, and in many
cases nearly all the iron is used for these purposes. In such cases,
the metal is taken in a liquid state, from the hearth, in ladles.
19. In Great Britain and Ireland, and perhaps in some other parts of
Europe, iron-ore is smelted with _coke_, a fuel which bears the same
relation to pit-coal, that charcoal does to wood. It is obtained by
heating or baking the coal in a sort of oven or kiln, by which it
becomes charred. During the process, a sort of bituminous tar is
disengaged from it, which is carefully preserved, and applied to many
useful purposes.